ABSTRACT
I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me they are the role model for being alive.
Gilda Radner
Animal assisted therapy (AAT) is a therapeutic modality with goals that are consistent with all of the basic counseling theoretical orientations. It is considered an adjunct to therapy in that it encourages and facilitates client motivation and participation, enhances the client-therapist relationship, stimulates client focus and attention to task, and reinforces positive client change. AAT can be integrated with any style of counseling practice, be it directive or nondirective. It offers a variety of techniques that are flexible enough to be applied in individual, group, or family therapy formats. One important therapeutic aspect of a pet practitioner can be its presence in the therapy room. The pet can contribute significantly to an atmosphere of cozy comfort and lessen the negative impact for the client of being in an unfamiliar environment. A pet practitioner is a therapeutic agent of warm and cuddly feelings. In AAT, I have observed clients pet and snuggle with an animal in a therapy room and report that the animal makes them feel safer and more secure. With AAT, the client seems to warm up to the therapist faster because the client observes a positive relationship between the therapy animal and the therapist. Clients also report that petting the animal is soothing and comforting. I have observed clients become more expressive in therapy and introspect more as they search for personal insights when a therapy animal is present to interact with compared with when an animal is not present. The presence of a therapy animal may soothe clients’ pain to allow them to explore their issues and concerns longer and more deeply. For those who may argue that an animal in a therapy session may impair the therapeutic process because clients need to feel the full extent of their pain to recover from it, I reply that I do not perceive that the therapy pet interferes with the therapeutic process but instead temporarily soothes their pain just enough to allow them to examine pain-inducing issues more closely. Even with the number of benefits the presence of a therapy animal can offer, it is important to note that it is not just the mere presence of the therapy animal in the room that contributes to client change. The therapist’s orchestrated interactions between the client and the therapy animal as well as between the client and the therapist are a vital component to the success of therapy that incorporates the use of a therapy animal. AAT is not magic, but it can be an integral and powerful contribution to therapeutic progress.
